ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Newfoundland and Labrador's Premier says he supports his Environment minister's decision to walk out of a federal-provincial meeting over Ottawa's carbon price plan.

Dwight Ball says he told Minister Perry Trimper to use his own judgment about whether to stay in the meeting Monday, and he doesn't believe his province's exit will affect efforts to work with Ottawa on other files.

Ball says his province needs time to assess what a carbon price would mean as offshore oil and mining sectors struggle with the commodities downturn.

The premier says his province is already collecting the equivalent of about $70 a tonne through the doubling of its gas tax last summer to 32 cents a litre. It was supposed to be a temporary measure and Ball says it's under review.

Ministers from Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan also walked out of Monday's climate-change talks in Montreal.

The federal plan calls for a $10-per-tonne price on carbon starting in 2018. That would rise by $10 per tonne each year until reaching $50 per tonne in 2022.